But when Penn arrived he brought with him letters patent from Charles
II., king of England, to this same district of country and the wilds
indefinitely beyond it, having also obtained from his friend, the
king's brother, the duke of York, full releases of the claims vested
in him to the "Lower Counties," which now form the State of Delaware.
Penn was accompanied by from sixty to seventy colonists--all that
survived the scourge which visited them in their passage across the
sea. He landed first at New Castle, of which the Dutch of New York had
by conquest obtained possession. To them he made known his grants and
his plans, and succeeded in securing their acquiescence in them.
Thence he came to Upland (Chester), the head-quarters of the Swedes,
who "received their new fellow-citizens with great friendliness,
carried up their goods and furniture from the ships, and entertained
them in their own houses without charge." His proposals with regard to
the establishment of a united commonwealth they also received with
much favor. And immediately thereupon he convened a general assembly
of the citizens, which sat for three days, by which an act was passed
for the consolidation of the various interests and parties on the
ground, a code of general regulations adopted, and the necessary
features of a common government enacted; all of which together formed
the basis of our present commonwealth.